Nasser Hussain, a former England captain, has stated that India's seam attack and bowling is outstanding. He said there were some weaknesses in India's batting and he was primarily referring to Ajinkya Rahane.
While there are still weaknesses in their batting, Ajinkya Rahane appears horribly out of form, their bowling, especially the seam attack is outstanding. For me, Bumrah is the best multi-format cricketer in the world. Kohli is undoubtedly the driving force and his win in England is his last frontier. It would be a legacy," Hussain stated in Daily Mail on Wednesday.
Hussain stated that England must keep their catches intact and be more aggressive with the bat if they want to win the five-match series at Manchester. "Take their catches. It is hard enough to take 20 wickets in Test cricket, let alone 25, 26 or 26. You must be more aggressive with the bat. The Oval was in a good place for the first innings, but they didn't take the lead due to soft dismissals. Choose a variety of bowling and the spinner should be used more. Moeen Ali is currently the third highest English Test wicket-taking spinning spinner! Hussain believed it would be difficult for Jos Buttler to play in the Manchester playing eleven if he had to abandon either Jonny Bairstow nor Ollie Pope. Buttler missed the fourth Test at The Oval because of the birth Margot, his second daughter.
"It would be difficult for me to leave out Pope and Bairstow, as that's the only way I can see him playing." Jos should spend more time outside the bubble with his family because there is a lot of cricket ahead. The 53-year old believes that Chris Woakes, an all-rounder, must prove himself in away conditions. He did well at The Oval. Woakes is an outstanding cricketer, and in England he is one of the top names on the teamsheet. He still has to prove it away. He was only just beginning to do this before Covid and all his injury problems. Hussain said that he liked the opening combination of Rory Burns & Haseeb Hameed, but that the latter should not go into a shell once he has re-started his innings.
"I like the pace Burns and Hameed set and they already have two hundred-run partnerships. Hameed should be aware of the drop-off in his innings when he restarts them. He cannot go in his shell." From September 10, the fifth Test between England & India will be held at Old Trafford, Manchester. India leads the series with 2-1.